Half to robert rintoul symon



(No Model.)

H. A. HOUSE. APPARATUS FOR REFINING METALS BY ELEGTROLYSIS.

No. 538,596. Patented Feb. 5, 1895.

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HENRY A. HOUSE, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO ROBERT RINTOUL SYMON, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR REFINING METALS BY ELECTROLYSIS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 533,596, dated February 5, 1895.

Application filed May 2, 1894. ilerial No. 509,773. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. HOUSE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairtield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the Refining of Metals by Electrolysis, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

This invention pertains to apparatus for refining metals, particularly silver, by electrolysis, and consists in the improvements in the construction of said apparatus which are hereinafter more fully described.

The object of the invention is to separate from the impure or base bullion, the silver in a pure state and to recover the other metals by the same operation, in a more economical and practical manner than has heretofore been done. For this purpose I provide, in a suitable tank or vat, a horizontal shaft with means for rotating the same, and on said shaft I mount one or more cathodes and one or more anodes of theimpure metal to be refined. The cathodes upon which the metal is deposited are in the form of segments of a disk carried by an insulating support and adapted to be alternately connected with the circuit while in the solution and cut out of circuit during that part of their movement when they are out of the solution. The anodes of impure-metal are also carried by suitable supports and may be cast in the form of annular disks or in segments that are secured to such support and similarly arranged to be brought into and cut out of the circuit.

Under each electrode support or carrier, is arranged a porous receptacle such as a canvas bag to retain the impurities or particles of metal that may fall off from the electrodes, and under all the carriers is a larger bag or receptacle. Provision is made for lifting the electrodes and these bags and also the main bag out of the tank when so desired.

Above the level of the solution I provide brushes that sweep over the surface of the anodes for the purpose of removing all bub bles of gas or impurities that may tend to form on and adhere thereto, and I also provide scrapers that bear on and remove from the cathodes the film of deposited metal and cause it to drop into a trough or suitable device for retaining it and delivering it into a receptacle.

The details of the apparatus thus generally described areillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a central vertical section of my improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same with portions shown in section.

A is a tank or vat of any suitable character such as is commonly employed for this purpose. In suitable bearings A at the ends of this tank, which are preferably open or otherwise arranged so that it may be readily lifted up or removed from the tank is a'rotary shaft B having a pulley B, by which rotary movement may be imparted to said shaft.

On the shaft B are mounted one or more pairs of electrode supports or carriers, preferably consisting of disks or circular frames C D of insulating material, with hubs E of metal which are insulated from the shaft by the insulating material 3 and divided into three or more insulated segments by the insulating material 2.

The electrodes are in the form of segments of a disk and are inserted in recesses in the sides of the carriers, or in any other convenient manner secured thereto in contact with the hub segments respectively but separated from each other by the insulation of the disk or carrier.

The cathodes F are preferably plates of copper with silvered surfaces while the anodes G are composed of the impure metal to be refined cast in suitable forms.

Each electrode carrier has suspended beneath it a bag H of canvas or other similar porous receptacle, and beneath the pair or series of carriers is a large bag K of the same material.

Secured to the edges of the tank are arms L L of conducting material or carrying conductors that terminate in contact plates or brushes that bear on the segmental hubs or comm utators E, there being one of such brushes for each of said hubs.

M M designate brushes of bristles or fine flexible wires that are supported in any convenient manner above the level of the solution therein and that rub over the surfaces of the anodes.

N N are scrapers or blades also secured above the level of the solution, by attachment to the sides of the tank or in any other proper manner and which bear against the surfaces of the cathodes. Under such scrapers are troughs or chutes O which are perforated or made of fine Wire netting, and'which lead to boxes or other receptacles P.

The circuit connections are made as indicated in Fig. 2. The anode brushesL are connected with the positive pole of the generator, through wires a a and the other brushes with the negative pole through Wires 1) b.

When the shaft Bis rotated and the current sent through the circuit it passes from each anode segment in the solution to the opposite cathode segment, the electrode segments out of the solution being cutout of circuitby the position of the brushes L L with reference to the commutators E. By the use ofaproper solution and by regulating the density of the current in a Well understood manner the silver is deposited on the faces of the cathode segments in a loose spongy state, from which it is scraped ed by the scrapers N and falls into the foraminous troughs beneath the scrapers, Any particles of metal, whether detached from the anodes or cathodes, drop into the bags under the electrodes and may be recovered when the electrodes and bags are lifted out. In the same way any metal or other particles that may fall into the tank are caught in the larger bag. The isolation of the electrode segments while out of the solution reduces the liability revolves, and means for insulating that part of the cathode-With which the scraper engages, as set forth.

2. In an electrolytic apparatus, the combination with a rotary cathode partially immersed, of a scraper for removing the film of metal from the surface of the cathode above the solution, as the cathode revolves, means for insulating that part of the cathode With which the scraper engages and a receptacle for receiving the metal removed by the scraper, as set forth.

8. The combination with one or more retary anodes divided into segments and partially immersed in a solution, and a commutator to which the anode segments are connected, of one or more rotary segmental cathodes partially immersed in the solution and commutators to which said segments are con nected.

4. The combination With an anode, a rotary segmental cathode, a commutator connected with said segments and adapted to connect the submerged segments in circuit, a scraper bearing on the cathode segments out of the solution as herein set forth.

HENRY A. HOUSE.

Witnesses:

JAMES N. OA'rLoW, R. F. GAYLORD. 

